Blues searching for a change in fortune

After a good performance on the previous Saturday the Blues had reason to believe that they could push on with a good result against visiting Westfield. Two goals conceded inside the opening ten minutes, however, left them with a mountain to climb and, de

In terms of fortune nothing is currently going the Blues’ way. A long hopeful ball down the middle of the pitch in the eighth minute should have been dealt with but Westfield’s hard-running Aaron Watson enjoyed the benefit of some ricochets off Ollie Sharman’s and Louis Bowen’s shins to find himself clear to fire past Charlie Mann in the home goal.

Worse was to follow when, two minutes later, a free kick was hoisted into the Blues’ box and, after a couple of touches on the ball, it found its way into the home goal off the shins of Gregory Hayden.

From this moment on it was the Blues who looked the more likely to score. As the game progressed, so did their pressure on the visitors’ goal. Elliott Bailey headed narrowly over the bar with their best chance of the first half but it was in the second that the Blues totally dominated the game.

Chance after chance fell to the Blues but it wasn’t until the 69th minute that they were able to convert one; Ben Ward-Cochrane coolly slotting the ball into the top corner from 15 yards after Ruben Soares-Junior’s initial effort had come back into play off a post.

Soon after, in the 75th minute, Ben Ward-Cochrane had a shot cleared off the line and, moments later, Ruben Soares-Junior very nearly got on to the end of a Ward-Cochrane ball across the face of the goal. And then, with time running out, Louis Bowen brought out a fine save from the Westfield keeper with a downward header from a Ruben cross.

With bodies being committed forward in search of the elusive equaliser the almost inevitable happened when the visitors grabbed a very flattering third with a breakaway goal in the sixth minute of added time, Arsen Ujkaj being the scorer.

With so many players having departed the club, the Blues are badly in need of a change of fortune, but if they keep working as hard as they have done in recent matches, it surely won’t be long in coming?

Team: Charlie Mann, Joe Clemo, Macauley Joynes, Jordan Lawal, Louis Bowen, Ollie Sharman, Ruben Soares-Junior, Charlie Edwards, Ben Ward-Cochrane, Elliot Bailey, and George Lutaaya.

Subs not used: Mark Twumasi, Aaron Diviney, Brian Simpson, Ahmed Mohammed and Theo Costa.